History of Clear Ridge Nursery

In 1984, Joe and Sharon Barley purchased an 87 acre farm in rural Carroll County, Maryland with the vision to renovate it and start a plant nursery on the property. With a background in forestry and native plants, Joe’s vision was to grow native trees and shrubs for conservation, reforestation, and restoration projects. Clear Ridge Nursery was formally established in 1994, starting with a small inventory of 18 species and 20,000 plants in 1-2 gallon containers.

Clear Ridge Nursery quickly flourished as a native nursery as tractors and equipment, a small work force, and thousands upon thousands of plants were added to the farm. In 2008 Jessica Barley (Todd) took the step towards succession of the company and purchased 51% of the nursery. In 2009, Clear Ridge Nursery gained MBE/DBE certification in Maryland which allows us to provide assistance to customers who have projects requiring minority participation.

Over the last 25 years we have expanded our inventory to over 70 species of native & ornamental trees and shrubs with an inventory of 350,000 plants in 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 gallon container sizes. We are a wholesale nursery and are MBE/DBE certified in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, as well as several individual counties in Maryland.

Starting in Fall 2014 Clear Ridge Nursery began providing Native and Ornamental plants from other growers. We are not just a grower anymore but a Wholesale Supplier of Plants and Plant products.